Democracy's Ancient Ancestors Mari and Early Collective Governance [Hardcover]

This book examines the politics of the ancient Near East through archives of letters found in the royal palace of Mari.Anticipating Ancient Democracy examines the political landscape of the ancient Near East through the archive of over 3000 letters found in the royal palace of Mari. These letters display a rich diversity of politics, encompassing major kingdoms, smaller states and various tribal towns. This book bridges several areas of interest, including archaeology, ancient and classical history, the early Middle and Near East, and political and social history. These archaic political traditions are not unlike pre-democratic Greece, offering reason to recognize a continuity between the Aegean world and that of the older Near East.Anticipating Ancient Democracy examines the political landscape of the ancient Near East through the archive of over 3000 letters found in the royal palace of Mari. These letters display a rich diversity of politics, encompassing major kingdoms, smaller states and various tribal towns. This book bridges several areas of interest, including archaeology, ancient and classical history, the early Middle and Near East, and political and social history. These archaic political traditions are not unlike pre-democratic Greece, offering reason to recognize a continuity between the Aegean world and that of the older Near East.This volume examines the political landscape of the ancient Near East through the archive of over 3,000 letters found in the royal palace of Mari. These letters display a rich diversity of political actors, encompassing major kingdoms, smaller states and various tribal towns. Mari's unique contribution to the ancient evidence is its view of tribal organization, made possible especially by the fact that its king, Zimri-Lim, was, first of all, a tribal ruler who claimed Mari as an administrative base and source of prestige. These archaic political traditions are not essentially unlike the forms of pre-democratic Greece, and tl«